Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1887-09-22

Rude, truculent. and dishonest as Capt
Morgan was, he seems to have had a Won
derful power of persuading the wild buc-
cancers under him to submit everything to
his Judgment and to rely entirely upon
his word. In spite of the vast sum of
money that he had very evidently made
awav with. recruits poured in upon him.
until his band was larger and better
equipped than ever.
The next towns to suffer were poor Mar
acavbo and Gibraltar, now just beginning
to recover from the desolation wrought by
L'Olonoise. Once more both towns were
plundered every bale of merchan-
disc of every piastre. and once more
both were ransomed until everything was
squeezed from the wretched inhabitants.
Here affairs were likely to have taken
turn, for when Captain Morgan came up
from Gibraltar, he found three great men
of-war lying in the entrance 10 the lake
awaiting his coming. Seeing that he was
hemmed in in the narrow sheet of water,
Captain Morgan was inclined to compro
mise matters, even offering to rellnqulsh
all the plumber he had gained If he were
allowed to depart in peace. But no; the
Spanish admiral would hear nothing OF
this Having the pirates, as he thought
securely in his grasp, he would relinqush
nothing, but would sweep them from the
face of the sea once and forever.
That was an unluckv determination for
the Spaniards to reach, for instead OF
| paraizing the pirates with fear, as he
expected it would do, it simply turned
their mad courage into as mad desperation.
A great vessel that they had taken with
the town of Maracaybo was converted into
a fire ship, manned with logs of wood in
montera caps and sailor jackets. and filled
with birthstone, pitch, and palm-leaves
soaked in oil. Then out of the lake the
pirates sailed to meet the Spaniards, the
| fire-ship leading the way, and bearing
down directly upon the admiral's vessel.
At the helm stood the volunteers, the most
desperate and bravest OF all the pirate
gang, and at the ports stood the logs OF
wood in montera caps. So they came up
with the admiral and grappled with his
ship in spite of the thunder of his great
| guns, and then the Spaniard saw, all too
late. what his opponent really was.
He tried to swing loose, but clouds of
smoke and almost instantly mass OF roar
ing flames enveloped both vessels. and
the admiral was lost. The second vessel,
not wishing 10 wait tor the coming of the
pirates. bore down upon the fort, under
the guns of which the cowardly crew
sunk her, and made the best of their way
to the shore The third vessel, not hav-
ing An opportunity to escape, was taken
by the pirates without the slightest resist
ance, and the passage from the lake was
cleared So the buccaneers sailed away,
leaving Maracaybo and Gibraltar PROSTATE
a second time.
And now Captain Morgan determined
to undertake another venture, the like OF
which had never been equalled in all Of
the annals OF buccaneering. This was
nothing less than the descent upon and the
/ capture Of Panama, which was, next to
Cartagena, perhaps, the most powerful
and most strongly fortified city in the
/ West Indies.
Down they poured upon Panama. and
out caue the Spaniards to meet them
/ four hundred horse, two thousand five hun
dred foot, and two thousand wildbulls which
had been herded together to be driven
over the buccaneers so that their ranks
might be disordered and broken. The
buccaneers were only eight hundred
strong; the others had either fallen in
battle or had dropped along the dreary
pathway through the wilderness; but in
the space of two hours the Spaniards were
flying madly over the plain, minus six
hundred who lay dead or dying behind
them.
| As for the bulls, as many of them q